Iron and Magic
by TheSkullyWriter
Summary: There once lived a lonely monk in a manor. He always lived a quiet life even when he was an acolyte in Solitude. He moved to this manor to get away from the city life and to be a shepherd of the Divines. He always imagined his life to be peaceful and full of solitude but that was until he'd find out he's the only person who can stop a dragon from consuming all of the Mundus.
1. Disturbing the Peace

**A/N: So I have decided to reupload Chapter 1 of Iron and Magic to make it more length and to remove my author's note at the end. Instead of 1,700 ( approx. ) words, there is now 4,000+ words in this chapter. So I hope you enjoy this. I decided to do it after seeing that i felt like i stopped so short after all the juicy bits were coming, so I wanted to extend the length of it. Anyways enjoy the newly redon: Chapter 1.**

Pitter and patter as the hard rain hit the trees and the ground below, insects actively making sounds within the cold rain that is pouring. As the downpour grew on and on, animals would take shelter from the unexpected clouds and birds flew back to their nests or under the branches of trees that were nearby. These are the sounds that echo in this region of the province right now. In this region, there stood a lonely manor with wooden pillars lining all around in specific spots around the entry building and the main manor's structure building. In between these pillars were whiten concrete walls lined with double windows and with some of them also being just plain old concrete with a cobblestone and stone foundation. When facing the entrance, which was a simple dirt path that leads to two intricately crafted wooden doors alongside the scones that held a dim of light, was a basic pen house that held animal life on the left and on the right held a crafting area that included an anvil, a workbench, a grindstone and a smeltery. Included in the rightmost portion of area was also a small farm that had grown to have a bountiful harvest for a single individual to live off of and in this farm included: wheat, potatoes, tomatoes, and garlic. Also next to the right of the small manor, stood a large and proud mountain that stretched as long as the manor itself, maybe even longer, alongside with the occasional tree dotting around the small manor.

As you would enter inside the manor, you would be greeted with a small room with an assortment of tables and cases that remained empty alongside animal head mounted plaques that hung from the walls of the small entry building. On the tables were small pots and vases with a broom relaxing on the left side wall closest to the entrance and with a small wooden bench that sat close to the doors. In front was another set of intricately designed wooden doors that led out to the main building of the manor which greeted you with a long table with a white, gold small tablecloth that had a silver, lit candelabras with bottles of wine placed on the long-clothed table with four chairs surrounding it.

Sitting on one of the chairs is a person in a monk's robe. Their slightly arched upwards eyebrows and crystal blue eyes lay concentrated on the meal in front of them. The monk was eating a lean, lightly salted cooked venison chops alongside some boiled leeks and carrots marinated in a nightshade and garlic sauce.

The monk, while eating, thought about today's plans.

"I need to go to Helgen today and recite a prayer for the executees there. Apparently the Empire finally caught Ulfric Stormcloak. I'd say good riddance to a man who has caused nothing but trouble for us."

As the monk finished up their meal, they went up a stairwell behind them on their left that led up to the master bedroom of the manor. When you enter the bedroom, there is a small table with a silver lit candelabra immediately on your left alongside with a large wardrobe with a shelf with an assortment of things on it and under it being a wooden end table. Right next to this end table is a lavishly built bed with a green velvet, silk blanket and adjacent on the other side of the bed is a slightly larger end table with a weapon case able to fit a dagger or small sword placed on top of it with a shelf with two lit silver candles above it and next to the end table is another wardrobe. When facing from the bed, on the left there is another table that has another weapon case for a sword or axe and on the right is a larger wooden shelf with a barrel and knapsack laying next to it.

The monk walks into this room, proceeds to head over to the knapsack in the room and picks it up. The monk heads over to the larger end table and opens it up to find an assortment of different potions and wines. They grab 3 potions of healing, 1 bottle of embershard wine and stuffs them into the sack whilst then opening up the barrel that was near the knapsack, grabbing some salted meat and carrots and putting those into the knapsack as well. The monk made their way towards the left wardrobe and found inside were a steel mace attached to a weapon holder in the wall alongside with steel nordic gauntlets and boots hanging from a leather strap on a hook. The monk took the steel mace and hooked it onto their belt, then started strapping the gauntlets onto their hands and wrists and then finished off but removing their saddles and equipping their nordic steel boots. Once the monk is ready, they went back downstairs and headed out towards the front entrance.

When they exited the manor whilst pulling down their hood, they noticed that the rain had stopped and could see the sun peeking through the clouds and trees as they took in the fresh autumn air. As they were taking in the scenery around them, the monk noticed a young courier hurrying up to them with a knapsack filled to the brim with letters.

"Ah hey Lars. I have some letters for you, let's see," said the courier as he dug through his sack.

Lars stared back at the young man, gave the man a small smile before resuming to his default face and patiently waited for his mail.

A few more seconds went by before the man's voice perked up, "I got it, The letters are one from the priestess from Solitude and another from Whiterun from a... ," gasping in shock. "A letter from a companion!"

_"What did someone from the companions want from him?" He thought to himself._

The courier handed the man both letters before taking off and saying, "That is all I have today Lars! It was nice seeing you again but I have many letters to deliver as you can tell."

The monk gave the courier a wave and a smile before heading over to the carriage near his house and greeting the man stationed there.

"Hey Gunjar, how's the day going for you?"

The balding, blonde older man gave the monk a smile and said, "Oh same old, same old you know: Complaining merchants talking about their deals, an old married couple traveling to Cyrodiil and... oh I got a new one for you," he chuckled before saying, "A late 20s monk travelling to Helgen to deliver a prayer to the executees or so I presumed/heard."

Lars gave a hearty chuckle at the last part and then said, "Now that's a new one! Tell how his ride goes."

"Oh I already know how it goes. The carriage driver and the monk have a heart-to-heart conversation on why the monk is not smitten yet lad!" before going into hysterics and the monk just staring at him, slightly frowning.

When Gunjar was done laughing, he looked back at the monk and saw his facial expression and said, "Oh don't look so down boyo. You'll find someone good for ya. Maybe not as good as my Jarla... but you'll find someone."

He scratched his red knotted beard before sighing and heading to the back of the carriage to board it. Once he boarded the carriage, Gunjar signalled his horse to get moving and from there, he was on his way to Helgen

* * *

The carriage ride was pretty uneventful, besides the constant berating from Gunjar, at this point and so halfway through the trip, Lars decided to read the two letters he got to pass the time. He decided to read the letter that he was mostly familiar, with which was the one from Solitude, which read the following:

Dear Lars,

It's Freir here. How are you holding up in Falkreath? Have the locals been treating you well? I just wanted to send you this letter to know how you've been holding up recently since I haven't seen you in little over a decade now. Anyways, visit the temple when you're free sometime, Silania has missed you quite a bit since you were the only other younger acolyte around.

Sincerely, with love

Freir

_"Damn. Has it seriously been a decade since he's visited it them?" he thought to himself. He made himself a mental note to visit them next time he was in the province of Haafingar._

* * *

More time passed as he made his way to Helgen but then in the direction of the town, he saw smoke rising from where Helgen was.

"Hey Gunjar? Isn't that smoke?" questioned the monk.

Gunjar peered and squinted his eyes to see and recoiled in shock when he noticed it was, in fact, smoke but not just any smoke: Black smoke.

At this point they were nearing the town and that's when Lars decided to speak up.

"Gunjar! Stop here. I need to have you stay here just in case." said the monk

"But what about you Lars? What if there's bandits sacking the town? You know you can't take them all on your own." Gunjar exclaimed.

The monk sighed and said, " I know.. But if I can buy the survivors some time to get out while I take them on then I'll be content with visiting sovngarde."

He hopped off the carriage and quickly made his way towards the burning town. When he finally arrived at Helgen's gate, an overpowering stench permeated around. He covered his nose to mask the stench but it was to no avail. He recognized the stench: death.

When he walked inside the western entrance of Helgen, he saw something he'd never seen in his life. The creatures wings were black as night and fresh with the blood of the innocent, It's horns appearing as curved and deadly sharp on its head with his scales looking rough and tough with age and scars lining the body. His piercing pale red eyes looking around as he flew through the air and once he spotted the monk, he landed next to him with his razor sharp claws piercing the ground as he landed.

"Daar joor los med zok, Zu'u koraav." spoke the ancient being.

_"Is this a bloody dragon? Was it trying to speak to him?" Lars thought to himself._

"Dovahkiin hi los. Zu'u haalvut nii nu…" the dragon trailing off at the last bit before saying, "You don't know who you are joor? I can feel it."

The monk stood there astonished and gasped in embarrassment when he noticed that the dragon was speaking to him. He replied with, "Um, I don't understand what you mean?"

The grey dragon sighed in annoyance before proceeding with, "While it may be easy to kill you, ahrk kos dreh, I would rather fight you when you're not weak and pitiful. Nii fen kos zok brit med daar…" he trailed off before picking up his wings and flying into the sky.

Lars took in the sight of this and it surprised him how large this dragon truly was. Before the dragon flew off, it had one more thing to say, "Alduin, Los wo zu'u los. Fear it Mortal. Joor. Because when we fight, It'll be the last thing you hear from after I consume your soul. Your sil."

And with that, the grey dragon known as Alduin was gone.

He stood there absolutely dumbfoundead.

_"There was no way that was actually a dragon, right? I am dreaming. Yes! That must be it! I am probably still at home, in my bed and about to wake up from this horrible nightmare… right?" he thought to himself_

He replayed the scenario over and over in his head before a voice snapped him out of his thoughts and back into reality.

"Hey! Lars! Are you alright?" said a voice

Lars turned around to see that it was just Gunjar who had a rather panicked and concerned look on his face.

"Yea… I am… alright," resting a hand on his face whilst shaking his head, realizing that it wasn't just some horrible nightmare.

"I am guessing whatever flew away from here caused this destruction." sighed the older nord.

"You saw that?" questioned Lars.

"Uh. yeah. it's kind of hard not to see a huge, winged… thing, flying through the skies." replied Gunjar.

"It was a Dragon…" mumbled Lars quietly.

"A what?" said Gunjar.

"It was a Dragon." replied Lars, speaking a little louder.

"By the gods… if that was a dragon…" saying Gunjar while his voice trailing off a bit at the end.

"Then the end times are here and that dragon must've been Alduin: The world eater." said Lars.

The two men stood there flabbergasted by the coming to realization before Gunjar broke the silence, "wait. If there's Alduin… then that must mean that the last dragonborn will come and save us all!" excitedly exclaimed Gunjar.

"That sounds all and nice Gunjar but I think we should think to matters more important right now," said the monk as he surveyed the area around him.

"Right," mumbling defeatly.

"Gunjar, I want you to head to Whiterun and inform the Jarl of this. Riverwood is nearby and could be in trouble if this dragon is flying about. I will stay here and see if I can locate any survivors." said Lars.

Gunjar gave him an affirmative nod as he ran back to his carriage. As Lars looked around, on his left was a destroyed section of the wall and on his right was the ruins of a house and carriage alongside a tower peeking out from the wreckage. He noticed that next to the tower was an inn that still looked structurally sound but still destroyed nonetheless. So he decided to head there first. As he entered inside the Inn, he was met with a scorching corpse on his right and on his left was rubble that crashed down from the second floor. Seeing that it was his only way across, he took a few steps back and took a leaping run forward over the rubble and landed into a roll then leaped back onto his feet. From here he had two ways to go: one on the left and another straight ahead of him. He decided to take the exit on his left which led out to move rubble and debris on his left whilst scorched and still burning destroyed buildings on his right. He proceeded north, passing burning buildings until he saw a small opening on the left and decided to check it out. This alleyway led to another destroyed house which then led to the eastern gate of Helgen. From here he saw three possible points of interest: The eastern gates, the northwestern gates and a stone archway that leads to Helgen's keep.

_"Well so far I haven't seen any signs of life. That must mean either worst case scenario: there were no survivors or 2: The survivors ran into Helgen Keep." Lars thought to himself._

Before he could figure out a plausible solution, he heard a soft groan coming from somewhere. He listened closer to get a sense of where exactly it was coming from and figured it to be in a destroyed house on his right. As he walked up to the door and peered inside, he noticed a young nord woman pinned and impaled by a piece of larger debris in the far left corner of the house. He ran over to her and said, "Are you alright?"

He noticed when the woman looked at him, she was very pale and had long raven black hair. It was clear to him that she'd lost a lot of blood already and unless he could remove the debris from her stomach, she would bleed out.

"Ok, I am going to have to remove this debris from your lower abdomen so I can properly heal you ok? When I start pulling," as he reached into his knapsack and pulled a greater health potion out, "I need you to start drinking this." handing the potion to the critically injured woman.

The woman looked at the potion, slowly held up her hand to weakly grasp it and gave him a slow nod in affirmation that she was ready. When he saw this, he grabbed onto the piece of debris and looked at her. When she gave him another nod with the potion near her lips, he violently started pulling the large piece of wood from her lower abdomen. The moment he started pulling, the woman was already drinking the potion and once he finally pulled the piece of wood from her lower abdomen, the potion was completely empty. He placed the jagged wooden piece off to the side and said, "There we go, now I can-" when he turned to face her, she wasn't moving. He quickly reached up to her temples and felt for a pulse. When he felt a weak pulse, he sighed with relief and concluded she must've passed out. He looked up at the sky, noticed that it was starting to become night, so he picked her up bridal style and proceeded to carrying her over to Helgen's keep.

When he entered the keep, he noticed that the part of the keep he had entered was the barracks and so there were beds lined up in an orderly fashion as most Imperial keeps too. So he went over to the closest bed on his left and started to tuck her into bed so that her body temperature could heat up from all the blood lost. Once she was comfortable and re checked her pulse to make sure that she was still alive, he went over to a shelf on the right which held a bottle of wine and a couple of books alongside a wooden table and chairs. Grabbing a book called: Mixed Unit Tactics and taking it over to a bed next to the woman and waiting for her to wake up.

* * *

A few hours passed and Lars was starting to feel quite sleepy now and at this point he had his knapsack and mace laying near him on the bed he was on. He was slowly started drifting off to sleep when the sound of someone waking up alerted his presence. He looked over at the bed where the woman and she was now sitting up in bed. She yawned as she rubbed her eyes and took a surveyance of the area and jumped in shock when she saw the unknown man looking at her.

"Who are you!" she said as she tried reaching for a weapon on her.

"Woah! Woah! I am not here to harm you. Calm down please." replied the monk.

The woman peered into his eyes and relaxed a little when she saw no ill-will in them.

"Where am I?" she said as she looked around frantically, "and why am I inside helgen keep?" declared the woman.

"Look, A dragon apparently attacked Helgen. I wasn't here when it attacked but I was supposed to be here as the retaining priest for the executees. When I got here, it was destroyed. everything. " responding to the woman's demand.

The woman thought to herself for awhile before responding with, "so that was what that black winged creature was… I want to say I don't believe you but the fact that I saw it with my own damn eyes, well, I have no objections to what you just said."

The woman tried getting up but soon found herself in pain the moment she tried.

"Look, I just healed you and you just drank a potion a few hours ago. Magic can only do so much, so you're, well, we're going to have to be here for the night until friend can arrive with help." said the monk.

The woman grumbled a bit before saying, "You still haven't answered one of my questions: Who are you?"

The monk cleared his throat and said, "My name is Lars. I am the shepherd of the 8 divines. While I worship all of them, I am a devout disciple of Mara."

The woman looked at him confused before saying, "A shepherd? I haven't ever heard someone who called themselves a shepherd for the divines."

Lars blushed and said, "Well… it's kind of a title I have given myself since I don't live in a temple no more and tend to wander."

The raven haired woman closed her eyes and wondered something for awhile before saying, "My name is Lydia. I was here visiting some friends."

"Well Lydia it's nice to me-"

"Shhh" Lydia whispered quietly.

"What?" whispered Lars as he grabbed at his mace.

"I hear running." the nord woman responded back.

As Lars focused his perception, he too noticed the pitter patter of footsteps in the distance. Before they could react, the door bursts open next to them and a dunmer and an Altmer in fur armour came barging in. One of them closes the door as the other one looks around and spot the monk and nord woman.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" the dunmer said.

"We don't have time, those guards from Falkreath are on our asses." responded back the Altmer.

"Guards from Falkreath? Oh Gunjar must've informed the Jarl then." He thought to himself.

As the two unknown individuals were about to take off running, Lars stood in front of them.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing priest boy?" the Altmer mocked.

"If the guards are chasing you then you must be bandits and I simply can't allow you to pass." responded Lars.

"Then we'll kill you and have some 'fun' with your little wife there." snarled the dunmer bandit as he unsheathed his elven sword and took an overhead strike at the monk. Lars quickly dodged out of the way and kicked the dunmer's back shins in, which caused him to stumble forward. He quickly grabbed his steel mace with his right hand and proceeded to block another attack from his flank by the Altmer with his elven sword. Both were in attack stances as they circled around the monk and proceeded to attack him at the same time. Lars countered this by going under their attacks by going on one foot, lowering himself and then punched the Altmer in the kneecap in which he heard a sickly cracking sound when he connected. The altmer roared in pain as he fell to his feet and onto the ground writhing in pain. The dunmer took this opportunity to swing a sidestrike at the monk's side which easily connected and caused a deep gash. The monk stumbled backwards and holding his side as fresh blood poured from the wound. The dunmer took advantage of this and tried to cleave his head off but missed by a feather and found himself in the way of a nordic punch to the face. This attack threw off the nord as he looked and saw Lydia standing ( if you can call it that ) while holding onto her stomach.

"Go for it!" the nord woman shouted.

Lars snapped himself out of his daze and brought his mace up to the dunmer side of his chest and it connected with ease. As the dunmer stumbled back, Lars took the chance of this and kicked in his shins whilst taking his mace and bludgeoning the side of the dunmer's head. As the dunmer dropped dead to the floor, the altmer took a wild swing from his knees at the monk and missed. Lars responded to his resistance by jumpkicking him in the face which broke his nose and caused the altmer bandit to scream in pain. Lars prepared a thunderbolt spell in his left hand and said, "See this won't hurt as much if you just say still," as he walked backwards and cast a thunderbolt straight at the altmer's head which caused his head to combust and explode gore and viscera everywhere. Soon after more people came running through the front door as Lars got ready to cast more spells, he noticed that it was the Whiterun guards and withdrew his magic.

* * *

The carriage ride to Whiterun was fortunately quite and when they reached the stables, the carriage stopped. Lydia and Lars talked about to each other: Lars learned that Lydia was born in Whiterun to a mother and father there and Lydia learned that Lars didn't have really any parents growing up.

As Lars hopped off the carriage and helped Lydia, Lydia said, "Wait you really didn't have parents growing up?"

Lars shrugged and said, "Yea, but I try to not let it affect me. All I know is that I had a father who raised me until I was 6 summers and then a priestess from Solitude took me away."

As they reached the gates, the guards opened the doors and they walked into Whiterun. They were on the plains district where Adrianne's forge and she was alongside her husband Ulfberth who were talking with each other. As they walked forward, they soon reached the marketplace where the bannered mare was located where many of the citizens go after a long, hard day. The market was bustingly with people looking to buy, trade and sell, which made it quite difficult to make it to the winds district of Whiterun. When they did finally reach there, They were met with the Gildergreen, an ancient marvel of nature that was said to have been here before Whiterun was even a city. It was vibrant with it's pink leaves swaying in the wind and proud branches hanging over the main epicenter of the district. He had retrieve a new sampling from the Eldergleam with the help of another worshipper of Kynareth: Maurice Jondrelle. Lars told Lydia about how the adventure was truly an enlightening experience for him. When they finally reached the doors of Dragonsreach, Lydia told Lars that she had to check in with her parents to let them know she was ok and that she'll be over quickly. So with that, Lars entered Dragonsreach, alone.

* * *

**Daar joor los med zok, Zu'u koraav-** This mortal is different, I see

**Dovahkiin hi los. Zu'u haalvut nii nu…-** Dragonborn you are, I feel it yet...

**Joor-** Mortal

**Ahrk kos dreh-** and be to do

**Nii fen kos zok brit med daar…-** It will be more satisfying like that

**Los wo zu'u los-** Is who I am

**Sil-** Soul


	2. Bleakfalls Barrow

**Thank you Kel Arumar for enjoying the story! I decided to rewrite some things about this story. It's mostly to deal with how I originally ended this chapter. Otherwise the rest of the chapter is the same.**

"You'll die before you even reach the door!" a bandit said while gurgling on his blood.

Lars then swung his steel mace as the bandit's head and heard a sickly cracking sound as the mace connected with his head. As Lars looked out from Bleakfalls barrow's entrance as he remembered the conversation he had with Jarl Balgruuf.

* * *

_As Lars pushed opened the doors to Dragonsreach, he was always astonished by the sheer size of it inside. On his left and right were 3 wooden pillars that reached all the way up to the ceiling with each having a back wall some meters away with windows that let in the warm natural light. In front of him was a medium stairway that led to a grand fireplace with two parallel tables with an assortment of cups, plates and utensils neatly lining them along with the light yellow and white table clothes that they sat on. There was a huge open doorway on the left that led to the kitchen of the building and on the right was another huge doorway that led to the court wizard's place of study and rest. Past the fireplace was where the Jarl sat and that was where Lars needed to go. _

_When he approached the Jarl's throne, a dunmer woman robed in leather armour approached him whilst drawing her sword. _

"_What is the meaning of this interruption, Lars! The Jarl's not receiving any visitors." the dunmer demanded. _

_This tone took the monk back a bit and replied with, "Woah woah. I am not here to hurt you, Ireleth or the Jarl."_

_Ireleth peered into his eyes for a second before softening them a bit and asking, "I apologize, I'm on edge a why have you come?" _

"_I have news on Helgen that the Jarls' ears need to hear." said Lars. _

_The dunmer woman sheathed her sword and said, "That explains why the guards even let you in the first place. Come. Jarl Balgruuf will want to speak to you personally then." as she took her place back by the Jarl's side. _

_As Lars stepped up and bowed to the Jarl and said, "My Jarl, I have come from Helgen with news on the Dragon attack." _

_The Jarl's ever serious gaze didn't falter as he asked, "So Lars, you saw this dragon with your own eyes?"_

"_Yes I did. I was making my way to Helgen because I was assigned by my teacher to be the retaining priest there." said Lars. _

_Balgruuf recoiled in shock as he said, "By Ysmir! Ireleth was right!" _

* * *

The conversation pretty much ended with Lars and Baalgruuf speaking with the court wizard Farengar. He spoke about an ancient stone called the dragonstone that pointed out locations of dragon burial sites. Here was Lars now, at the entrance of Bleakfalls barrow to receive.

"You ready to go in?" asked a voice.

He turned to face Jenassa and replied back with, "Yea, ready when you are."

As the pair pushed opened the great, huge metal doors to the barrow, they were greeted with a waft of stale wind hit them as they entered the slightly colder room. Wondering why it was still cold, they noticed that the ceiling on the southwestern closest portion to them had collapsed which left a mess of stone, rocks, and wood all over the place. As the pair snuck their way towards a raised platform that held an ancient nordic table they saw two bandits, sitting next to each other on a bedroll near a fireplace, in the midst of a discussion.

"When do you think that milk-drinker Arvel is going to return?" questioned the female orc.

"I don't know and honestly don't care. That grey-skin has gone off the rockers about some secret power in this tomb." replied the breton male

"Well, If you think he's crazy then why are we still here?" retorted the orc.

"Well I'm only here because you're here Gorsha. We in this together remember?" said the breton as he snaked his arm around her back to her shoulder and pulled her closer to him.

Gorsha leaned into his touch and gave him a passionate kiss before pulling away and saying, "OK, ok not right now Janus. I think I heard fighting outside a while ago. We should at least check that out before we continue any further into our fun." seductively his neck to add after saying that.

"Oh alright," pouted the breton, "but we _are _having sex after we check, alright?"

"Of course sweetie," replying to his pout, picking up her orcish sword and heading towards the entrance of the barrow. The breton known as Janus soon followed suit and when they were both out of sight, the pair entered into the opening.

"I am _so glad _that they didn't have their fun while we were here…" Lars shuddering.

"That would've been a sight that I honestly would've preferred not to see either, Lars, because we all know your virgin eyes would be tainted." chuckled the Dunmer.

The breton priest blushed a deep red before spouting, "What does me having to be a Virgin have to do with anything!"

Jenassa chuckled to herself whilst continuing forwards to a set of stairs and replied with, "Nothing. I just really have a knack for teasing you."

Lars shook his head while sighing and continued after towards Jenassa.

* * *

As the pair made their way through the barrows ancient halls, they passed the decomposing remains of many skeevers and looted urns until they finally reached a room where a male nord bandit was. The fight was rather short and quick work for the pair of adventurers. Jenassa used her blade and magic to keep up a steady defense against the bandit while Lars peppered him with ice spears from his flank. When the fight was said and done, they took in account the room they were now in: ancient iron braziers were at their left and right sides whilst on their leftmost seemed to be 3 turnable stones that had the images of animals on them. Facing forward, they saw a stairway that leads to a second floor with more images with the central image having been collapsed on the first floor of the puzzle room.

"Ahh, an old puzzle room," exclaimed Lars.

"A puzzle room? I thought these old nordic tombs were cities at one point or another?" questioned Jenassa.

"Ah yes, some of them were old nordic cities but some of these ancient structures could've been made to house old kings, dragon priests, and much much more." Lars proudly said.

"Awww, aren't you just our little scholar," Jenassa teased whilst running her fingers through his hair.

Lars blushed and blurted out, "What? I like learning. What's wrong with that?"

"Oh nothing my sweet little Lars. Let's just get back to the task at hand, alright?" Jenassa chuckled.

After solving the quite simple puzzle, they made their way to a pesky spider chamber where a dunmer named Arvel laid caught in a web, through tomb rooms that held draugr in which they made quick work of, and soon found themselves inside a cavernous long chamber with an underground small river/stream running through it. At the end of this stream lead to a huge cliff drop about 25-35 feet down with a bridge appearing just before you hit the surface and on this bridge harboured a frost troll.

"Ok there's a frost troll just on that bridge Jen." whispered Lars.

"I can see L" replying back.

"You attack head on and I give it a good ol' shock?" asked Lars.

"Always energetic, aren't ya?" Jenassa sarcastically snarked.

"You know me too well Jen." replied back, smilingly.

As Jen rushed down the downwards ramp on their right towards the below bridge, Lars shouted," Hey! Ice Brain! Look up here," as he charged up a lightning bolt in his left hand and threw it at the troll. The lightning bolt impacted the troll in the shoulder as it stumbled back a bit before Jenassa meeting it head first with her own connecting wide swipe at its thigh. Marking the mage as his target, the troll batted Jenassa off of the bridge which caused her to plummet down.

"NO! JEN!" screamed Lars as he pelted the troll with repeated lightning bolts with both hands, now having his mace sheathed. The troll soon disappeared from sight as it made its way up the ramp towards his position and Lars readied his mace for the head-to-head combat. When the troll reached him, it took a wide left swipe at him which was easy for him to dodge out of the way before swinging his mace at his wounded thigh. The troll screamed in agony as the strike connected and retaliated by swiping at his face which knocked him back a few feet and with a claw cut across his face. He fell to one knee as the troll lumbered over to him, preparing to attack once again but before it could reach him a sword pierced through the chest of the frost troll. He looked up to the scene and saw when the troll fell, it revealed Jen with streams of blood flowing down her head.

"Fucking hell Jen, you gave me a fright," he sighed.

Jenassa chuckled while clutching the side of her bleeding, "Lars you know it takes much more than that to kill me."

Jenna proceeded to take out a potion but before she could drink it, Lars came over and laid his left hand on the side of her head and a warm,auburn glow glowed from his hand and her wounds started to close.

"Ahh by the divines that feels good. Thanks L" Jenassa responded while looking at him. His face was clawed up pretty bad by that troll and found herself unconsciously stroking the side of his face where the claw was.

"Yea it's pretty bad isn't it?" Lars said.

"Yea it is…" before pulling her hand back, realizing what she was doing, "shit sorry, uhh.. Let's continue yea?"

As they fought their way deeper and deeper inside Bleakfalls, they soon found themselves upon a 3 way entrance with one of the entrances being obstructed by soon old roots but with the adjacent doors from it left and right being open that lead into a partially collapsed entrance with spiraling pillars flanking both left and right and rubble and debris outline the floor with a singular armoured draugr with a sword and shield that hadn't notice them.

"This one looks a bit tougher than the others," Jenassa whispered.

"Aren't scared, are ya Jen?" Lars teased.

She scoffed and charged, "Just means this will be more enjoyable!"

Jenassa swung first with her first strike connecting with its shield and quickly unsheathing her dagger with her offhand and plunging it into the rotten flesh of this thing. It screeched and laughed at her as it battered her off with its shield and swung wide right at her side which she dodged quickly then disengaged and shouted, "Lars!"

Two quick lightning shots in succession hit the armoured bits of his armour which amplified the damage it would normally do. The draugr recoiled in shock and dropped its sword and with his hand, casted a fireball with it and flung it at Lars which caused the nord mage to quickly take cover behind a pillar. Jen took the opportunity to flip her dagger with her offhand and flung it directly at the draugr's eye but was shocked when the draugr quickly brought its shield up and battered it away, causing it to fly off somewhere in the room.

"This fucker thinks he's a clever bastard don't he?" Jen said before engaging in combat with it again.

The draugr taking notice tried to cast a fireball at her but was caught off guard by Lars's lightning bolt at his face which allowed Jenassa to swipe left and connect then flow through with a blow to its head. When the last strike connected, the blue glowing eyes of the draugr flickered until they misted away and it slumped to the ground.

Jenassa pulled her sword from its head and flung the mucusy blood away her sword before sheathing it.

"Whew that a fight huh?" Lars said.

"Yea hate the armoured ones. Always seem more smarter than the others." she replied

Lars clipping his mace to his belt responded to that with, "Well usually the magic users could be scourges or some of the restless ones. Although usually scourges are much more armoured than this one is so my guess is that this one was one of the restless ones."

"Ah, makes sense I guess. Not going to question you on that since you're the scholar boy here." she said.

Rolling his eyes, he walked forward and they proceeded through the doors and the barrow. They fought more and more lesser draugrs before they finally reached another room (more like sanctuary) that had a lit brazier to his right and several pillars; collapsed or standing, in his front view. On the floor were dirt and a broken up cobblestone path that led into an area with two waterfalls in the far back of the room and a bridge that led over a small river created by the previously mentioned. Over the bridge led up several stairways that led to a central staging area with an ancient nordic tomb and a mysterious wall with weird inscribings. As they got closer Jen spoke up, "Lars this looks like an old burial for some."

Lars inquisitively looked around the area and took in the note that this was indeed a burial area but something was off. He heard… chanting. Looking around he noticed on the mysterious wall was a glowing word and blue and orange tendrils spiraling towards him.

"Uhh Jenassa, do you see/hear this" Lars asked puzzlingly.

Jenassa lifted up her eyebrow as if to signal that she was straining her ears to hear and shook her head, "No I hear nothing Lars. why?"

Lars found himself drawn to the blue glowing word and unconsciously moving towards.

Jenassa saw this and grabbed him by his hand, "What are you doing?"

"I feel like it's calling me. I don't know? Trust me Jen," Lars answered.

She thought for a second before reluctantly letting go of his hand and giving him a firm nod of approval before Lars made his way towards the glowing letters. As he got close, his vision blurred for a second before words appeared before his eyes.

**Fus**

He had no idea what that meant or what language that was in but before he could ponder what just happened, he heard a lid of sarcophagus pop open and an armoured draugr, more armoured than the other one, sat up in his tomb and looked at the pair.

"Uhh Lars.. WE HAVE A PROBLEM!" Jen screamed.

Lars turned around quickly to notice a heavily armoured draugr climbing out his tomb. As the draugr planted his feet on the cold stone ground it uttered, "Tiid wah dir!" and strung with surprisingly quick speed as it hit Jenassa in her leather armour which pierced it and blood pooled around the wound.

Jenassa cursed before drawing her sword and faking a right swipe and uppercutting but the draugr with its greatsword parried off the attack and shouted, "Fus Ro Dah!" A ripple of force/wind echoed from its mouth and sent Jenassa back, slamming her into the word wall with a sickly _crunch _sound following after.

"Jen NO!" Lars shouted before charging the draugr with his mace and ward. He swung wildly left which the draugr deflected before riptosing and jabbing Lars straight through the gut. The draugr looked him in the eyes and just mockingly laughed as he pulled the sword out of him and followed through at him with a sidestrike and knocked him down. As Lars lied there bleeding on the ground, he saw the draugr get closer to him with his great-sword before his vision faded to black.

When Lars awoke he was greeted with an empty void that stretched seemingly endlessly and as he looked around he was greeted with the visage of an ancient golden dragon staring at him. This startled Lars as he reached to grab his mace before realizing it wasn't there. The dragon saw him struggling and spoke, "Don't fear human. I am not here to harm you. I know who you are but you, Shepherd of the Divines, do not know who I am."

Before he could speak again, the dragon was gone and an echo of a voice was heard, "Know that I'll be watching you my son and that you'll be under my protection."

He soon found himself suddenly falling before he fell back into his body and woke up panting. He looked frantically around and saw no one around him but noticed his mace and entire attire were completely drenched in blood.

_Had he fought this draugr in blind/unconscious fury?_

He thought he fought unscathed until the apparent adrenaline wore off and the pain hit him like a giant's club. He stared at his bloody hands and weapons before he snapped out of his trance with a groan heard next to him.

"Ughhh, fucking hell that hurt like a bitch."

"Jen you're alright thank the gods," saddling up next to her and helping her up.

"Yea that hurt like a fucking bitch, how you holding?" she weakly responded.

He checked his body and found that the gut stab he had was still prevalent and hurting like the flames of oblivion. He fished out a potion of healing from his bag and noticed all but one where broken.

"Fuck, whatever happen I killed that thing and all my potions are broken besides one," as he handed it to her. She pushed it back towards him saying, "you need it more than I do, you're the one bleeding after all. Me? i just have" wincing in pain. "few broken ribs many?"

He used the last of his magic reserves to heal his gaping stomach wound before handing her the potion, "No you need more than I do now. After all, I don't want to be hauling your ass back to Whiterun." he smiled cheekily

"Yea you're right." grabbing the potion and downing it before teasing with, "Daedra known that you couldn't resist grabbing my ass while I am defenseless."

Bleeding and in pain, his face still had blood left to blush a deep red and stuttered out, "Fucking hell Jenassa! Forgive me for trying to be nice." throwing his arms up in defeat before walking back.

"Hey! You know my ass is nice. I've caught you staring ya Virgin." Jenassa continued which made Lars only quicken his pace as Jenassa laughed in the background.


	3. He is Dragonborn

As the duo limped their way through the gates of Whiterun, Jenassa told Lars that she was going to head to the temple and to not wait up on her. Lars acknowledged this and made his way towards Dragonsreach: The seat of the Jarl.

"Lars you look like you went through shit." a man remarked.

Lars looked towards Adriana's forge and saw Ulfberth with his wife working on some steel.

Groaning, "Yea… I have gone through worse. Me and Jen went on some tomb dive for Farengar." as he pulled out the dragonstone from his backpack.

"So that wizard made you go into an ancient, dangerous nordic tomb for some old rock?" he questioned.

"Ahh, that's where you're wrong Ulfberth. The dragonstone is a known ancient artifact that was created after the time of dragons. It was used to mark old dragon burials across Skyrim's plains." Lars answered.

"Don't mind my husband, Lars. I am sure whatever Farengar asked you to get was rather important." nudging her husband to get inside.

Lars getting the hint, moved on from the forge and continued his way back up towards Dragonsreach.

When he arrived at the palace, he pushed open the large wooden doors and was greeted to the same warm interior as before. He made his way to where Farengar usually stationed and was greeted by an unknown woman talking to him. She was dressed in leather armour from head to toe and had a hood draped over her face to hide any noticeable features about her.

"You see? The terminology is clearly from the first era or even earlier. I am convinced this is a copy of a much older text. Perhaps dating back to just after the Dragon War. If so, I could use this to cross-reference the names with other later texts." Farengar excitedly said.

"Good. I'm glad you're making progress. My employers are anxious to have some tangible answers." the woman responded. She sounded older, well at least much older than Lars was.

Oh, have no fear. Jarl himself has finally taken an interest, so I'm now able to devote most of my time to this research."

"Time is running, Farengar, don't forget: This isn't some theoretical question. Dragons have come back." the woman retorted.

The woman then noticed that she wasn't alone and looked up to see the long haired nord in monk's robes standing there.

"Yes. yes. Don't worry. Although the chance to see a living dragon up close would be tremendously valuable… Now, let me show you something else I found… very intriguing… I think your employers may be interested as well…"

"You have a visitor Farengar."

Looking up and noticing Lars was there, he was surprised and said, "Ah, yes Lars! Back from Bleakfalls Barrow? You didn't die, it seems."

The woman used this opportunity to make a quick exit before Lars had a chance to talk to her.

Lars and Farengar discussed philosophy for a while before the housecarl of Jarl Balgruuf interrupted.

"Farengar, you need to come at once. A dragon has been sighted."

Before she turned towards Lars and said, "You should come as well Lars."

The court wizard practically giddied in glee as he pestered her, "A dragon? How Exciting! Where was it seen? No. What was it doing?"

Irileth, clearly annoyed, sighed and said, "I would take this a bit more seriously if I was you. If a dragon was spotted near Whiterun and attacks. I don't know what we'd do to defend it."

As they made their ways up the back stairway of the palace, they were greeted with a simple battlements room with a map. A ways away from it was the Jarl himself and a Whiterun guard.

"So, Irileth tells me you were stationed at the western watchtower. What happened."

The guard spoke up, clearly having ran quite a bit because he was out of breath, "yes, my lord. That's right. We saw it from the south. It was fast. Faster than anything I've ever seen."

The Jarl, clearly disturbed, responded with another question, "What did it do? Did it attack the watchtower?"

Clearly ashamed, he replied with, "no my lord. It was just flying above when I left. I have never ran so fast in my life… I thought for sure it was going to come after me." slumping his shoulders.

The Jarl walked up to the man and placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled, "Good work son. We'll take it from here. Head down to the barracks for some food and rest. You've earned it."

This is why Lars had always loved Whiterun. The Jarl wasn't just just and fair but a good man and understood his men.

The guard made his exit and the Jarl turned towards his housecarl and said, "Irileth, you'd better gather some guardsmen and get down there."

"I've already ordered my men to gather near the main gate." Irileth remarked.

"Good. Don't fail me." and turned towards Lars, "I am sorry Lars, there's no time for ceremony. I need your help once more."

Lars got on one knee and replied, "No need for more, my Jarl. I will help you."

Pulling him up to his feet, the Jarl scorned at him and retorted, "We are friends, are we not Lars. Friends don't bend knees to one and another."

Lars nodded.

"Thank you my friend. As a token of my appreciation, I grant you this piece from my personal armoury." as he handed him an enchanted skysteel mace.

"I had this made for you for your contributions to our city. When and if you slay this beast, come back and I shall have another reward waiting. I won't accept no as an answer this time, old friend."

* * *

As they crouched down behind a rock with Irileth and 8 guards, the former standing walled tower was now in complete ruin and burning. You could definitely tell by one look something came through here.

"No signs of any dragon but it sure as hell looks like he's been here." Irileth whispered to her men and Lars.

She continued, "I know it looks bad, but we still have to figure out what happened and if that dragon is still sulking about somewhere."

She then finished with, "Spread out. Look for survivors. We need to know what we're dealing with here."

As the group approached towards the burning ruin, Lars made his way towards the tower itself. There an unhelmeted guard appeared from seemingly within.

"No! Get back! It's still here somewhere. Hroki and Tor just got grabbed when they tried to make a run for it." the guard said and he sounded terrified.

Not one second after saying that, a distant roar of a beast was heard. The guard looked towards his right and Lars followed his gaze and noticed it. The beast was flying towards them. Brown and silver wings glistened in the sun as he approached the group.

"Kynareth save us! Here he comes again…," before he slunk back into the tower.

"Hold fast men! Make every arrow count,' before drawing her sword in one hand and magic in her off.

Lars quickly casted double thunderbolts in his hands and started flinging them at the dragon when he got closer. The dragon flew overhead and blew a scorching fire breath that instantly burned to crisp two of Irileth's men. The wailing cries as their skin burned and bubbled was heard throughout the burning skies of the scene. This caused some of her men to falter in morale but still held fast, fearing what would happen if they left this monster to its devices. It took a big path east before coming back around for another run. As the brown dragon got closer, Lars shot off, in quick succession, two thunderbolts that made their mark and caused the dragon to wail in pain and anger as it refrained from grabbing one of the guardsmen it was planning to grab with its horrid and jagged jaw and proceeded to circle back around from the western side of the tower. As it landed on the crumbling tower, the tower shook and fell. The screams of men were quickly extinguished by the sound of falling rock and stone.

"Daar los aan lotnir." the dragon said delightedly before he took off again before anything could get a shot off on it.

It circled back around from the north side and landed on the ground next to 3 guardsmen who would withdraw their bows and swords now drawn. The guards took swings at the dragon before the mouth of the beast clasped down on one of the guards head down to his torso and bit down, removing the upper half of the man as the dragon chewed the man's upper half. The other men dropped their swords and immediately began to panic and run away from the beast but that also, like their friend, was short lived as the dragon breathed fire on one of the guards and grabbed the other in its mouth. The sounds of the screaming man on fire as his skin bubbled and crisped and the muffled scream of the man caught in its mouth as it took off in flight about 120 m before dropping the man's body. The screaming of the man rang throughout the battlefield before a sickly crunch sound was heard as the body landed right next to Lars.

Lars looked on in horror as the man's body was disfigured and bloodied beyond any healing that he could do. The rumours on dragons were true: Dragons were nothing but hungry, evil monsters. Filled with a new found anger, Lars let off a multitude of thunderbolts but found himself quickly running dry in his magicka reserve.

"Shit, I am running out," he cursed.

The sound of a dragon landing broke him out of his thoughts as he looked up to see the dragon land in front of Irileth.

"Aanol fah zu'u lost dunmer." the dragon smiled wickedly.

"No!" Lars yelled as the dragon brought his mouth down on her. Before the dragon could rip her in half, Lars charged up a super thunderbolt in his hands that arched across the face of the beast.

The dragon wailed in pain as he let go of Irileth and looked at the small monk in front of him.

"Nid. Hi los fin kul gein." As he walked his way towards the small monk.

Rage and anger burned in Lars' heart fiercely at this moment as the dragon made his way towards him.

"Dir nu. Die now in vain." The dragon smirked as he reared his head back to bite down on him but Lars was ready and swung his mace into his mouth before quickly letting off an ice spear with his offhand.

This attack caught the dragon by surprise as he recoiled in pain.

"Foolish mortal. Hin krif. Your fight is meaningless. Die now!" as he let off a breath of fire soon after he finished. Lars quickly jumped and rolled over to the side and brought up a ward as the dragon moved his mouth to try to burn him.

"Hin krif los balaan nid" roared the dragon as he took to the skies again. Lars quickly made his way over towards Irileth who was bleeding profusely.

"Irileth. Irileth. Wake up!" Lars pleaded.

"Ughh.. kill that thing Lars.. Save Whiterun…" her voice faded.

"No No No No," as he used the last of his magical reserves to heal Irileth so that she wouldn't bleed out. He dragged her close to a piece of fallen debris from the tower and said, "Just rest up Irileth. I will put an end to this monstrosity."

The dunmer woman, with a pained expression, just nodded her head, closed her eyes and was faintly breathing but still alive and not bleeding out anymore.

"_I will end this beast if it's the last thing I do! If I die from killing it… then so be it!" _Lars thought.

He stood up from her and started to walk forward into the open field. He looked around the battlefield before him as he made his way and saw burnt and half eaten corpses litter the view before him. He knew what he had to do even though he swore to himself that he would never do it again, he knew that it was the only way he was going to defeat this beast. Lars dropped his mace and sat on the ground in a meditative position and outstretched his hands forward. He tapped into an ancient power he did so many years ago.

As the dragon swung around to finish off the rest of these foolish mortals when he saw the monk sitting in a meditative position and said, "Ful hi koraav fin vahzen. Dir nu Joor." and swept down to burn him. His breath attack made contact as he flew past the burnt monk and circled around to see his kill and when he did he noticed the monk was gone. He suddenly felt a weight on his back and turned his neck to see the monk: his hair was now stark white and eyes glowing a bright blue.

"What! What Grahmindol is this?" as he landed and tried to reach around and bite the monk off his back. The moment he did this, the monk grabbed his head, climbed on top of it, held onto its horns and his fists began to spark with electricity and quickly after the dragon began to convulse with electricity sparking in and out its body. Few seconds passed before Lars jumped off the dragon, charged a huge thunderball towards the dragon and slammed it into the dragon's face as it's head began to implode.

"Dovahkiin? No!"

**Pop**

as the dragon's head spontaneously exploded out and chunks of dragon meat and bone sprayed across the field surrounding him.

Minutes passed before a voice was heard behind him, "What manner of hell was that."

Lars turned around to see Irileth clutching the side of her stomach with blood running down the top of her head.

He just smiled before his hair and eyes changed back to their normal colours and collapsed but before he did, the last thing he heard was, "Fus."

* * *

**Daar los aan lotnir- **This is a great hunt

**Aanol fah zu'u lost dunmer- **Awhile since I have had Dunmer

**Nid. Hi los fin kul gein- **No. You are the one.

**Dir nu- **Die now

**Hin Krif- **Your fight

**Hin krif los balaan nid- **Your fight is worth nothing

**Ful hi koraav fin vahzen. Dir nu Joor- **So you see the truth. Die now mortal.

**Grahmindol- **Trickery


	4. The Journey to the 7,000 Steps

**I thought I would take the time to admire how much love this story is getting and it inspires me so much to keep writing it. I thought I would thank the people who are following this story and want to read more. Thank you HAVEABOY, KrissKross, Posei-DONE, dragonlorerd6, feluzar, fenrir2018, mkeidge01, roxas199 and MP7 BOSS for all following this story and keeping up to date! Thank you HAVEABOY, fenrir2018, dragonlorerd6 and Kel Arumar for liking the story. Please if you like the story: following, liking and leaving reviews is the best to let me know you enjoy reading it. Anyways, enough with shoutouts and thank yous. Hope you all enjoy Chapter 4 of: Iron and Magic. **

A pounding headache and aching throughout all of his body. This is the feeling Lars felt as he awoke in a double bed as he sat up to see the surroundings. Off in the right corner was a dresser with some pots and food on plates with a brazier of its right made of iron and wood that was currently lit. Directly to his right was a small corner table with a plate and cheese and directly in front of him was a wreath of snow berries.

_Am I in the Bannered Mare? _Lars thought to himself.

He had been in this same exact room many times when he would travel all around Skyrim to preach the good word and for his services.

_Going to be a while before I have that life ever again. _

Although he felt an unusual heaviness on his left arm and looked down to see a bodily shape under some covers and a dunmer hand peeking out the blanket.

_Oh this isn't who I think it is? _He thought.

He slowly lifted up the covers to reveal a stark naked dunmer form of Jenassa, sound asleep. He realized his hand was right near her breast and he could practically feel the blood rushing to not only his face but something else. He drew back his hand slowly away from her breast and noticed he was still in his robes.

_Funny, I thought she would've tried something funny. _He thought.

He got up from the bed silently so as to not wake up the dunmer and made his way downstairs. The Mare was full with patrons and drinkers as the barmaids Saadia and Olfina Greymane brought drinks and hot food to the patrons with Hulda, the owner, talking to a few male patrons while filling their tankards with good drink. The Bannered Mare was loud and rambunctious and Lars was wondering how in the hell he even slept in with all this noise. Then he thought how the hell he even got here because the last thing he remembered was heading out towards the Western Watchtower after-

"A dragon had been spotted…" Lars said to himself.

Before he could recollect the events from that evening, a loud, slurred voice shouted, "HEY! IF IT ISN'T THE DRAGON SLAYER HIMSELF!"

He looked over and on a bench was Ulfberth who looked drunk beyond belief with his wife Adrianna having to keep him from kneeling over himself.

"I think he's had one too many drinks, Addy." Lars chuckled.

"I'm very much inclined to agree with you." turning back towards her husband. "Cmon ya oaf. Get up."

Ulfberth's blushed face looked at his wife, "Wow my wife is as beautiful as Dibella. See everyone! This is Mine!" he proclaimed.

As Ulfberth and Adrianna made their way out of the Mare, Hulda called Lars over.

Lars made his way towards an open stool near the bar as Hulda already had a drink prepared for the young nord.

"So how are ya young man?"

"I feel like I just got sucker punched by a frost troll then left for dead in the Sea of Ghosts." he grunted.

"Ah. I guess that's what happens when the adrenaline wears off after fighting and killing a dragon eh?"

Oh yea. That's what happened. He killed a dragon.

"Yes I did. Didn't I…" he mumbled.

"Anyways the Jarl's Housecarl told me to remind you to go see him tomorrow for your reward."

Hulda was right. Jarl Balgruuf did tell him to see him once the dragon was either defeated or beaten away from Whiterun. He went over to the door and noticed that it was night out now and Secunda and Massar were high in the sky and recollected that it must be around midnight now.

_I guess I'll head back to sleep then. _He thought.

As he made his way back towards his room, he saw Jenassa, still stark naked, sitting on the bed now and seemingly in deep thought. When she noticed he was here, she ran towards him and enveloped him in a tight embrace.

"Fucking by the nine hells, I thought you were dead." she sobbed.

_Was he really out that long? _

He held her there for what seemed like an eternity before she pulled away, grabbed his hand and brought him to the bed. When they got there, she pushed him onto the bed and straddled onto his pelvis region. Lars was confused because Jenassa was acting strangely now but decided to not say anything to not upset the dunmer anymore then she already was. Well that was until Jen started disrobing him and his loins were the only thing that he had on anymore and that's when he decided to say something.

"Uh. Jen, what are you doing?"

She said nothing as she took her hand and grabbed one of his and brought it up to her left breast and pressed it into it.

"Do you feel that?" the voice was barely an audible whisper.

Lars indeed did feel the softness of her breast but almost felt something else: A heartbeat and it was beating at a rapid pace and her face was practically begging for him to accept her feelings and feel the same way.

Now see, Lars was slightly oblivious when it came to figuring out if a girl liked him or not but this was a clear indication of what was happening this moment: Jenassa had liked him in a romantic way but unfortunately Lars didn't view her the same way. Lars loved her but as just friends and that was all. He didn't think that Jen wasn't beautiful because she was the exact opposite of that: She was hotter than the deepest parts of Mehrunes Dagon's realm. Although his head and his _head _were thinking two opposite things. One was telling him to go for it, she was a beautiful exotic dunmer woman with an amazing body and if anything from his time with her was that she was very experienced. The other head was saying that bedding down with a woman that he didn't love would destroy their friendship once he confessed to her that he didn't feel the same way as she did.

It took a few seconds for him to decide before he answered her.

"Jenassa I am sorry. I can't. It's not because you aren't beautiful or an amazing,strong woman. It's just that I don't feel the same way you do to me."

The next thing that happened surprised Lars greatly. She smiled at him and withdrew his hand from her breast and said, "I am happy that you were honest with me," as she got off him and proceeded to get dressed.

"You're not upset?"

She just shook her head. "Lars I know you value what we are. I took a huge risk by even doing that but I am glad I did."

Hearing this, he breathed a sigh of relief but was quickly flustered when Jenassa followed up with, "although it wouldn't have hurt to screw me silly Virgin boy before rejecting me. Gods, you are hopeless Lars."

"Ugh! I swear to the 8 divines Jen, you never stop, do you?"

As Lars pulled the covers over and looked the other way, he heard Jen laughing her ass off before heading downstairs.

* * *

As Lars left Dragonsreach, he was a new man. He had just been named Thane of Whiterun and found out that the woman he met a week ago now, Lydia, was actually a Housecarl.

"So you were a Housecarl this entire time huh?"

Lydia just shrugged her shoulders, "What? Just because I was injured when we first met doesn't mean I'm not a capable fighter Lars."

"Oh I know that you're a fighter, if that sucker punch to the dunmer's face meant anything."

Chuckling, "You still remember that?"

"How could I forget it: Nord woman who was not only five minutes ago bleeding out, stands up to sucker punch a dunmer in the face. I am usually a composed fighter but even that caught me by surprise." he chuckled back.

"I guess I am a woman full of surprises then." she shrugged whilst smiling.

They made their way towards Adrianna's Forge where Lars saw Jenassa talking to Adrianna.

"So I tried and he ended up rejecting me."

"Ah, Jen it's alright. I sometimes wonder myself if-" as she looked up to see Lars.

"Hey Lars."

Jenassa turned around and her eyes were puffy but not red. He's seen enough people crying with his time in the temple at Solitude to know when someone has cried.

_What else did you expect, Lars. _

"Hey Jen."

"Heyo Virgin boy." although she said this really sarcastically. Seeing Lydia behind him. "Ohhh so that's why you rejected me. You should've told me you had someone."

Inspecting the woman head to toe, "she looks tough **and **Beautiful?" she evaluated

Lydia, embarrassed , "Umm, Lars is just my thane Jenassa. That's all."

Lars could hear some hostility in her voice, so he just decided to get this done and over with.

"Adrianna, do you have that weapon the Jarl promised me?"

"Yea I have it right here." she said as she pointed to a newly made Orcish-made mace with serrated edging. It was truly a finely crafted weapon and Lars smiled like a fool as he picked it up and took a few practice swings with it. When he got done testing out the new weapon, he looked back at Adrianna.

"This is finely crafted, like always."

She just smiled at him and said, "Lars you know I don't anything but finely crafted weapons and armour at my stand. I may not be good as Eorlund Gray-mane but I aspire to be."

Lars just shook his head. "Adrianna you don't need to be anyone but yourself. You may not have the sky forge but your forge is just as good."

She smiled warmly, "Lars, whoever ends up with you is going to be a lucky woman."

"What is that supposed to mean?" he was puzzled.

"Don't worry about it." Jen replied and proceeded to walk away.

Once Jen was out of hearing distance, Lars just sadly sighed.

"Give her time Lars. You broke her heart but I commend you for doing the right thing."

"I just don't want to talk about it."

* * *

As they made their way and outside of Whiterun, they headed on the road towards the Ivarstead, where the stairway to the Monahven aka The Throat of the World was. They traveled pasted by Riverwood and Embershard mine where Lars discussed that a trader known as Lucian was having troubles with the bandits there, so he went in with an elf named Faendal and cleared the place out which reopened the iron mine.

As they made their way, they soon reached the now collapsed Helgen where the flames had long since died down by then. As they arrived at the gate and stopped, Lars spoke.

"So, we're back huh?"

Lydia looked at him. "Yea I wasn't expecting to be back this early but since it's the only way to get to Ivarstead, it makes sense."

Lars looked back at Lydia and could tell the mental wounds were still sore in her.

"Who were you visiting? You said that you were visiting some friends when we first met."

She sighed, "I was visiting an old friend. I had known them since we were children. Last time I saw them was them leaving the gates while I tried to keep her safe. Once she made it out I tried helping other people out and the rest is history."

"You're very brave Lydia."

"Ha. I liked to think so," she chuckled sadly.

As Lars pushed open the gate to Helgen, they were greeted with the scorched ruins of the town. They didn't walk more than 5 feet before they heard a voice.

"You entered the wrong area. This is our territory." As a man draped in iron armour appeared from behind a house. With him, 3 others appeared attired in an array of armour.

"Pay the toll or we'll take it from you." the bandit growled.

"Does this answer your question,' Lydia said as she pulled her bow from behind her and knocked back an arrow at one of the men, directly bullseyeing him right between the eyes. One of the men took cover quickly as the leader unsheathed his great sword but before he could, Lars was already front center and took the man's head and slammed it into his knee. This caused the man to reel back and dazed the man. Although that was very short lived as Lars threw an incinerate spell at him which caused him to quickly burn into ash with blood and smoke permeating the area. The two other bandits that were alive looked at each other then took off running to the northern gate of Helgen.

"That was great shooting Lydia." he said as he dusted himself off.

"Like I said: I guess I am a woman full of surprises."

As they traveled, they noticed the sky was orange and yellow, signalling that night was coming and they had to bed down soon. They found a patch of trees and open land a bit of the eastern path and started to make camp. Once it was done, Lars dragged a log towards the fire they started and brought out a stew pot, some ingredients and took out a iron tripod used for hanging food over a fire. The ingredients he brought with him were some leeks, salted meat, potatoes and some spices. He minced up the meat into small cubes alongside with the potatoes. He took out a flask of water and poured it into the pot then tossed in the meat and spices.

"You're a cook too?"

He looked at Lydia who was in her regular clothes and not her steel armour she had dawned. She wore a white tunic shirt that clung to her breasts, some brown linen pants with her steel boots still on and her hair was now loose and flowed down to her chest rather then the usual braid crown it was in. She was absolutely beautiful.

"Yea, a friend I met one day named Fulthiem taught me how to not only cook but how to use this," as he pointed at his mace.

_Wow Adrianna was right. He is interesting. _Lydia thought.

Once Lars saw the meat form a broth-like substance, he took the minced potatoes and leeks and tossed them in as well and let it cook for a while before taking the pot off the tripod and pouring the meat-leek stew into two bowls.

"Eat up."

Lydia took her bowl and smelled the food and it smelled rather good actually. The meat was cooked medium rare and the leeks and potatoes had a cooked, crispy skin which added a smoky flavour to them.

"This is really good actually!" she said with her mouth full.

He smiled, "Thanks"

A few more minutes passed before they both had their fill of the pot before they decided to settle down for the night.

"I'll take the first watch since that was really good food.." Lydia said.

"Alright. Wake me up in like 5 hours and I'll take the last watch," he replied.

* * *

The rest of the journey to Ivarstead went on uneventfully and they reached Ivarstead by late morning/early afternoon.

"Welcome to the Rift," Lars said. "You've ever been here?" he added.

Lydia was taking in the sights and was practically flabbergasted by the sheer beauty the Rift held. The autumn coloured trees alongside the blue, partial cloudy skies with the river that ran through the small community with townspeople walking to and fro from building to building, workstation to workstation gave the town a sense of busyness to it. The smells of fresh water, damp earthen ground and a light white smoke smell coming from the fireplaces of houses created a picturesque scene for Lydia that she had clearly never seen in her life.

Lars smiled when he saw her reaction.

As they made their way into the town, they stopped by the Vilemyr Inn to gather up some salted food and vegetables and made their way over to the bridge that led to the beginning of the stairway. The Stairway to the 7,000 steps.

* * *

**Monahaven- **This means Mother Dragon in the dragon language. It's referred to this because it is said Kyne breathed onto the land.


	5. High Hrothgar

**Thank you Lawrence HBain, pir84lyf and madmick74 for following the story. I hope you're enjoying it so far! **

**Lawrence HBain-** "Maybe Lars/Jenessa/Lydia? Cause while I was already interested in the coming relationship with Lydia you made one with Jen interesting too…"

**Answer: **Maybe! Jenassa will definitely appear in later chapters though I am unsure about the 3 way between all 3. Let me know if ya guys want Lydia/Lars/Jenassa or just a Lydia/Lars!

**I am sorry it didn't come out on the intended date ;-;. I have been rather busy but I hope you forgive me! Anyways I hope all of you enjoy the newest chapter of Iron and Magic.**

As the duo made their way towards the bridge that led to the 7,000 steps, Lars saw Gwilin and Klimmek in the middle of a conversation.

"On your way to the 7,000 steps again, ey Klimmek?"

The old nord chuckled, "Not today. I'm just not ready to make that climb to High Hrothgar. The path isn't safe."

The answer gave the elven man a look of surprise.

"Aren't the Greybeards expecting some supplies?"

"Honestly. I am not certain. I've yet to be allowed into the Monastery. Perhaps one day."

"That's because you ain't one of them yet Klim."

Klimmek looked towards where that came from and saw Lars standing there with an unknown woman.

"Ahh Lars it's you!" looking at the unknown woman. "And you're smitten now?"

"Why do people-," sighing loudly, "No she isn't my wife Klimmek. Lydia, this is Klimmek. Klimmek, this is Lydia, my housecarl."

Klimmek gave her a once over before responding with, "Ahhh. Well. Keep my boy here safe alright? He sometimes acts before he thinks."

"Klimmek, I know how to protect myself quite well."

Lydia just smiled.

"Don't worry. I am his housecarl. That is kind of my job."

Lars annoyingly sighed, while walking over the bridge, and said, "C'mon Lydia. Let's get going."

As they made their way up the 7,000 steps, they didn't get more than a couple before they came across some type of alcove. It was old and ancient but seemed still in very good shape.

"Before the birth of Men, the Dragons ruled all Mundus. Their word was the Voice, and they spoke only for True Needs. For their Voice could blot out the sky and flood the land." it read.

"Hmmm , I read about these tablets. If I am correct, as we climb more, it should tell us the history of not only Skyrim's past but this mountain's history."

* * *

They made their way up towards the 7,000, a few hours passed of silence before Lydia spoke.

"So what was your childhood like Lars?"

Lars was taken aback by this sudden question from her.

"Why?" he questioned.

"Well I just thought since we'll probably be traveling with each other for a while, it'd be good for us to know each other." she answered.

_"That made sense." _He thought.

"Well I was in a hurry last time we spoke. I am from Rorikstead, born to a single father. Never really knew much about gods or stuff until a woman named Silania Petreia took me away when I was 6. From there I was taken to Solitude to study on the divines and where I first learned I had an affinity for magic."

Lydia looked at him confused.

"I thought you said you knew your father until you were 12 and that's when you were taken away?"

"Eh. I lied about that. I tend to keep to myself and I thought we honestly would never see each other again. Never in my life was I expecting to be this so-called Dragonborn or that's what people think."

Lydia was a bit conflicted but understood the reason why he did that. It seems like Lars lived a more away from society life so he probably tends to not see the same people again.

"Well from here on out, no more lying alright?"

Lars looked besides him at her, smiled and responded, "Yea sounds good. After all, you can't protect someone if ya don't know about 'em."

Lydia couldn't lie about one thing for sure: Lars was definitely talented but also very kind. Although that smile caused her to blush and respond back with, "Let's just keep moving alright?"

They talked for some time as Lydia explained that she was a native to Whiterun to a mother and father who lived outside the walls of the city and owned a simple farm. Saying she learned how to fight from the captain of the guard when she was very young and became a standby housecarl for Whiterun's next thane. She always expected her Thane to be some up tight Imperial noble who was either dismissive of her or incredibly creepy but Lars was alright. Although she didn't tell him that last part.

As they made their journey up the 7,000 steps, they stumbled across a tight, cliff face pass that seemingly led more up the mountain but before they made it through, they were interrupted with a loud roar.

"Frost Troll." Lars said as he pointed up on the cliff face a few meters above them as a frost troll jumped down right next to them and took a swipe. They both dodged out of the way and prepared their weapons for a fight. Lars immediately prepped up two fire bolt spells in his hands and started battering away at the beast. Lydia unsheathed her steel sword and shield and started battering her sword against her shield to taunt the beast. The beast seeing this, roared again and proceeded to charge at her and take two consecutive swipes at her which she ducked out of the way of both and swung at his thigh which connected. The beast roared in pain but was soon finding itself bombarded with an array of fire bolts before Lars dropped the spells and drew his mace out. The beast continued to take swipes at Lydia before giving up and deciding to take on the seemingly less armoured man. He switched to him, took a haymaker which connected and sent Lars back a few feet. Lydia decided to take the opportunity and sheath her sword and shield to draw her bow and arrow out and started knocking back arrows and firing. A few arrows connected with the beast as he turned around to go after the more annoying target now, drawing the attention away from Lars. Lars took the breather to summon up a quick healing spell before casting a fireball in his hands and shouting, "TAKE COVER!" as a massive fireball spiraled towards the beast and Lydia. Lydia quickly, realizing the massive ball of fire coming towards her, disengaged to her right as the ball of fire slammed into the troll. The troll started to catch fire and soon found itself in flames and quickly became consumed by flames.

As they took time to catch their breaths, they looked at each other and just smiled. They had never been in an actual fight with something together, so they were both worried about how well they would work together and this fight brushed away any doubts they had about each other's strength. They both simply just nodded at each other before continuing on forward.

As they continued, the skies grew darker and darker with each step before the starry night sky was over them now. They were greeted with another alcove as before and this was labeled VI.

"With roaring Tongues, the Sky-Children conquered. Founding the First Empire with Sword and Voice. Whilst the Dragons withdrew from this World." it read.

"Wow see what I mean. This tells the first founding of the Empire after the humans rebelled and defeated their cruel dragon overlords." Lars said excitedly.

"Alright but does this alcove tell us where we can bed down for tonight so we don't freeze our asses off?" Lydia retorted.

He chuckled. "No but I think I saw a hollow part of the mountain behind us." as he pointed behind them and up.

* * *

As they woke up, they packed up their things and continued to trek along the rest of the path towards High Hrothgar. After an hour or so, they saw the tall and stony spires of High Hrothgar. The building looked incredibly old, at least before or after the Dragon war but Lars was unsure. They were greeted with a central tower with an offering chest and two adjacent stairways that led up into the main building.

"So this is High Hrothgar? Huh thought it'd be bigger." Lydia said.

As they made their way up the stairs, they took one final deep breath before they entered the complex.

When they entered, they were immediately greeted with a warm interior and entered seeming a main common area where iron braziers lit with warm, inviting fires ablaze. They saw a man in a grey robe approach them and as one approached them many more did. Lars counted about 4 of them approached them before the first one who did spoke.

"So... a Dragonborn appears, at this moment in the turning of the age."

"That's what people keep telling me. Tell me. What does that even mean?" he answered back.

"Show us, Dragonborn. Let us taste of your Voice."

"What do you mean?" he questioned.

"Feel the voice, the dragon soul within you and let it speak for you."

Lars reached deep down and almost like instinct, he shouted, "FUS"

The wave of pure energy made the old man stumble backwards a bit before he regained his footing and walked up towards Lars with a smile.

"Dragonborn. It is you. Welcome to High Hrothgar."

He approached him and again, saying, ""I am Master Arngeir. I speak for the Greybeards. Now, tell me, Dragonborn, why have you come here?"

"Who are you? What is High Hrothgar?" he asked.

"We are the Greybeards, followers of the Way of the Voice. You stand in High Hrothgar, on the slopes of Kynareth's sacred mountain. Here we commune with the voice of the sky, and strive to achieve balance between our inner and outer selves."

So they're the Greybeards. They look incredibly old but he knew that these men were known as the most powerful wielders of the Voice so he knew not to judge them on their appearances. Lars had so many questions to ask them but decided to wait and just keep it simple.

"I guess my next question is that I want to know what it means to be this so-called Dragonborn. It is what people keep calling me."

"We are here to guide you in that pursuit, just as the Greybeards have sought to guide those of the Dragon Blood that came before you."

"_Huh so I am the only dragonborn that's alive. The last one if he'd remembered correctly was Tiber of Atmora back during the 1E." _He thought.

Lars thought for a while. The life he once knew was never to come back and if it did it wouldn't be for a very long time. If Arngeir was correct: He was the first Dragonborn to have appeared to them in centuries meaning that he was the only one that could stop whatever that thing was back at Helgen. He had two choices at the moment: Just leave this place right now and try to be ignorantly blissful or fulfill this doom-damned quest of this Dragonborn title and potentially get killed in the process. Well if he's the only person standing between him and the potential end of the world, he'd rather die knowing he tried to do something then knowing he had the power to do something about it.

"I am ready to learn master."

Arngeir smiled before replying, "You have shown that you are Dragonborn. You have the inborn gift. But do you have the discipline and temperament to follow the path laid out for you? That remains to be seen."

The rest of the masters gathered in a circle as Arngeir said, "Without training, you have already taken the first steps towards projecting your Voice into a Thu'um, a Shout. Now let us see if you are willing and able to learn. When you Shout, you speak in the language of dragons. Thus, your Dragon Blood gives you an inborn ability to learn Words of Power. All Shouts are made up of three Words of Power. As you master each Word, your Shout will become progressively stronger. Master Einarth will now teach you "Ro," the second Word in Unrelenting Force. Ro means "Balance" in the dragon tongue. Combine it with Fus - "Force" - to focus your Thu'um more sharply."

The man known as Master Einarth approached the center of the semi circle the masters were making and spoke into the middle. Pure energy of power left his mouth and imprinted the word, in dragon language, Ro. When the word was fully imprinted, streams of orange tendrils attracted towards his body, practically begging him to reach out and touch it. He reached out and the tendrils circled around him then went into him and he felt a rush of power enter his body and it was a weird feeling but strangely exhilarating.

"You learn a new word like a master... you truly do have the gift. But learning a Word of Power is only the first step... you must unlock its meaning through constant practice in order to use it in a Shout. Well, that is how the rest of us learn Shouts. As Dragonborn, you can absorb a slain dragon's life force and knowledge directly. As part of your initiation, Master Einarth will allow you to tap into his understanding of "Ro." Now let us see how quickly you can master your new Thu'um. Use your Unrelenting Force shout to strike the targets as they appear."

Master Einarth approached Lars and the same spectral orange tendrils rushed out from him and entered his body. In a quick second, Lars understood the meaning of Ro and the meaning behind it. As he stepped back, another man in the same robes approached the center and said.

"Fiik... Lo...Sah!"

As a spectral version of the greybeard appeared.

"_So he was just supposed to shout at the specters? Alright seems easy enough." _he thought.

"FUS"

He repeated this two more times, each time a different master appeared to shout the same specter summoning shout. After 3 times, Arngeir approached Lars again.

"Impressive. Your Thu'um is precise. You show great promise, Dragonborn. We will perform your next trial in the courtyard. Follow Master Borri."

"I'll just be inside here Lars. Go have your fun. I'd rather not be out in the freezing cold again if you don't my Thane." Lydia perked up.

Lars looked at her and said, "That's fine Lydia. Master do you have any food around here my friend can eat?"

Master Arngeir looked at the young woman that accompanied him and said, "The right corridor. You should reach a central meeting room. Food is there."

As Lars followed the Masters.

"Don't have too much fun without me Lars."

"Don't worry if any bandits appear, I'll make sure you're the first one to get a punch in." he winked and smiled. Lydia just rolled her eyes smiling before going off towards where Master Arngeir told her to go.

* * *

As they made their way outside, Lars was greeted with a courtyard. There were arches pocketing the area and they met in the middle of them.

"We will now see how you learn a completely new Shout. Master Borri will teach you "Wuld," which means "Whirlwind."

The master now known as Borri stepped in the center of the courtyard and spoke into the ground. The same pure energy flowed from his mouth into the snow and imprinted the word "Wuld" into the ground. He reached out and felt the energy enter him but this was different. This energy felt more excited and rushing. Almost like he was ready to run from here to Whiterun and back. He saw Master Borri make his way towards a gate before Arngeir piped up.

"You must hear the word within yourself before you can project it into a Thu'um. Approach Master Borri and he will gift you his knowledge of "Wuld." Now we will see how quickly you can master a new Shout. Master Wulfgar will demonstrate Whirlwind Sprint. Then it will be your turn. Master Borri."

The men ready themselves at a pillar that was a few meters from the gate. Wulfgar looked at Lars and cheekily smiled before Master Borri said, "Bex!" as he opened the gate. Master Wulfgar just waved as he shouted, "WULD… NAH… KEST!" as his body proceeded to rocket forward at a blinding speed. It was like at one moment he was standing next to him and the next he was on the other side of the gate as it closed.

"_Oh so he was the cheeky one of the group huh?" _he chuckled to himself.

Master Arngeir turned back at Lars and said, "Now it is your turn. Stand next to me. Master Borri will open the gate. Use your Whirlwind Sprint to pass through before it closes."

A few seconds passed before he heard Master Borri shout, "Bex!" and the gate opened. Lars felt the rush of pure energy course throughout his body as he shouted, "Wuld!" and he felt himself propel forward and before he knew it, he was standing a little ways inside the gate. He looked over at Master Arngeir who had a look of surprise and astonishment as he slowly walked over to him.

"Your quick mastery of a new Thu'um is... astonishing. I'd heard the stories of the abilities of Dragonborn, but to see it for myself..."

"Really? I don't even know how it happens. I feel like each word of power has its own taste. The unrelenting force shout feels powerful and authoritative but the Whirlwind Sprint one feels like I hopped up on skooma."

First time ever in the conversations they had, he heard Arngeir laugh before replying with, "Well, I have heard people describe it weirder but you were given this gift from the gods for a reason. You are now ready for your last trial."

"Thank you. Tell me what it is."

"Retrieve the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller, our founder, from his tomb in the ancient fane of Ustengrav. Remain true to the Way of the Voice, and you will return. Unless you have any other questions for us, we will meet again."

Lars just smiled at the old man and said, "let's go inside because the amount of questions I have will freeze us to death if I ask them out here."


End file.
